Like many others, I am a bit of a lazy arse. The one thing I hate the most about myself is not having the ability to finish a long-term project. I’ve tried and tried before but I can never bring myself to continue anything for a lengthy period of time. Sports such as football, rugby and squash and small ventures of mine concerning the computer have failed miserably as I lacked the enthusiasm to carry on.My father being a sports diver in the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC), it was he who first suggested I start learning to dive. I shrugged the recommendations off as I thought i’d probably lose interest within the first few days. After much persuasion I eventually decided to contact the only diving club in Sharjah (as far as I know) located within an elite community called the Sharjah Wanderers.

What is amusing is that the Sharjah Wanderers is mainly a club for European (mostly British) members in that if you look like a non-European foreigner the gate guard will fob you off with an excuse. It is also one of the two places in Sharjah where the consumption of certain illegal beverages is permitted (how could we Brits survive without a good supply of booze, eh?).

Anyway, a friend and I arrived there about two weeks ago to discuss the various issues of our membership to the diving club and we encountered this infamous gate guard. He gestured us to halt and with much haste jumped out of his little room to question us. No, he didn’t ask whether we were members of the club. No, he didn’t ask what we were doing here. In fact, he didn’t seem to give a damn when I tried to explain that we had to meet with the diving instructor.
His first question: ‘Where are you from?’
Nonchalantly, I replied, ‘England.’
His attitude then completely changed with that one word reply. A smile rapidly creeped up his face and he shook my hand as if we were best friends.
Then he noticed my Lebanese companion behind me.
‘And you - same?’
‘Yeah, same,’ he replied rather quickly.
Hehe. Rather surprisingly, that got us in and we met with all the dive club members there as the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the dive club was taking place that day.

The dive club offers a classic British pub atmosphere - an excess of beer and an excess amount of laughter. Good stuff.

I was to take my first underwater training lesson today but it’s been postponed until Wednesday.

With God’s good grace (and perhaps a little bit of willpower from my side) i’ll be a BSAC diver within a month or two.